She led by nearly 5 seconds after 10 kilometers but had dropped 3 seconds back of Zabelinskaya by the second time check. She made up the difference over the final flat run to the finish, precisely the kind of terrain that suits her riding style perfectly.

Fabian Cancellara capped his remarkable career with his second Olympic gold medal Wednesday, the retiring Swiss star powering over the hilly, rain-slicked course at the Rio Games to deny favorite Tom Dumoulin and British rival Chris Froome.

Cancellara looked like the same youngster who dominated the 2008 Beijing Games, finishing in a time of 1 hour, 12 minutes, 15.42 seconds. Dumoulin finished 47 seconds back to take silver, despite breaking his hand during the Tour de France, while Froome had to settle for bronze.

Froome was trying to follow in the footsteps of compatriot Bradley Wiggins, who won the Tour in 2012 before capturing time trial gold at the London Games. But he was never able to match the pace of Cancellara, falling behind at the first check-point and finishing 1:02 behind him.

Cancellara began weeping the moment Froome, the last rider of the day, crossed the finish line. He announced more than a year ago that this would be his final season as a cyclist.

Jonathan Castroviejo of Spain was fourth and Rohan Dennis of Australia was fifth, left to rue the bike change that he needed to make 56 kilometers into the race. The change was calm and quick, but the few seconds he lost likely cost him the bronze medal.